The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1887-01-06


Sor his text today q part Of the eighth
verse Of the forty.seventh chapter of Gene
sis: "How old art thoul" The sermon
was as follows:
The Egyptian capital was the focus of
the worlds wealth, IN ships and barges
there had been brought to it from India
fraukincersc and cinnamon, and ivory,
and Diamonds; from the north, marble and
iron; from Syria, purple and silk; from
Greece, some of the finest horses of the
world. and some of the most brilliant char
lots and from all the earth that which
could best please the eye, and charm the
car and crafty the taste. There were
temples atiane with red sandsto entered
by guteways that were guarded by pillars
bewildering with hieroglyphics. ard wound
with brazeR scrpents, and e3orned with
winged Crcatures-their eyes. and beaks,
and p,uions glitter:ng with precious stones.
There were m2rble columns blooming into
white Hover beds; there were stone pill
lars. at the top bursting into the shape Of
the lotus when in full bloom.
ilOng the avenues, lined with sphinx,
AMI fame, and cbclisk, there were princes
who came in gOrgeously upholstered palan-
ouin. carried by servants in scarlet, or cise~
where drawn by vehicles, the snow white
horses. golden bitted and six abreast, dash
1ng 81 full run. There were fountains from
stone Wreathcd vases climbing the lad;,ers
Of the light You would hear & Dolt shove
and door OF brass woe!u open like a flash
OF the sun, The surrounding gardens were
saturated WITH odors that mounted tho
terrace and dripped from the arbors, and
burned their incense in the Egyptian moon.
On floors OF mosaic the glories Of Pha-
roah were spelled out in letters Of porphy-
namcnts twisted from the wood OF tama-
xsk embossed with silver. breaking into
foam. There were fontstoos made out Of i.
single precious stone. There we're beds
fashioned out of crOUchat lion in bronze.
There were chairs spotted with the sleek
hides of lo0paTds. There were sofas footed
with he claws Of wild beasts aud armed
with the bcaks Of birds. AS you stand on
fhc level beach Of the sea on summer day
and loCt either way there are miles of
breakers, white with the ocean foam, DASH
inC shurcward; so il seemed as if the sea q
the worlds ponp and wealth in the Egyp-
ban capital for miles and miles flung itself
VI into White breakers OF marble temple,
nIausOleum and obclisk,
Ii was to this capital and the paiace Of
Pharoah that Jacob, the rlan shepherd
came to meet his sen Joseph. who mad be.
come Prime Minister in the royal apart
mcnt. Pharaoh and Jacob meet digrity
and rustiC'N. tho graCciulnesa % 'hc court
ana the plain manners ~ The field The
King. wanting 10 'Pahe the old country
man al case aed seeing how white his
beard is aRi how feeble his step, looks IA
military iato his face and says to the aged
man; 'HoW old art thoui'
Might before last the gate of eternity
opened to let in. amid the great thrOng of
departed centuries, the soul of the dying
year. Under the twelfth stroke OF the
trazcn hammer of the city clOch 'ne
patriarch zen dead, and The s.ars of the
night were the funeral torches 1t is most
fortunate that un this road Of life there are
SO many miitstOncs, on which We can read
just bow fast we are going toward the
journeys end ] feel that II is not an in
appropriate question that ] ask to-day
when | louk into your faces an" say, as
Pharoah did to Jacob, the patriarch: How
old art thouF'
People who are truthful on every other
subject lie about their ages, So that | dc
not solicit from you any literal res pVnse TO
the question have asked I would put no
ono under temptation; but / simply want
this morning - see by what rod it is we
are measuring our earthly existence.
measuring Il door, or wall, or an arch, OF
ii tower; and 50 there is right way ana 4
wrong way Of measuring our earthly cx-
istence. 1t is with reference to this higher
meaning that | confront you, this corning,
with the stupendous question of the text,
and ask: How old art thou"
There are many who estimate their life
by mere worldly qualification, When Lord
Dunjas WAS wished happy NcW Year,
he said; 1t will have to bC a happier year
than the past, FOR hadn't one happy mo-
mcnt in all tho twelve months that have
gone" Butthat has not been the cx pcricuca
Of most o1 us; we have found that, though
the world is blasted with SIN. it is a very
bright and beautiful place to RESIDE III;
we have hal joys innumerable. There is
no hostility between the Gospel and the
merriments and the festivities life.
do not think that we fully enough APP
preciate the worldly pleasures God gives
us. When you recount your enjOymCnts,
You do not 60 far enough back. Why do
you not go back to the time when you were
an infant in your mothers arms, looking
up into the heaven of her smile-to those
days when YOU filled the house with the
uproar OF boisterous merrim>nt-when you
Shouted a. you pitched the ball on the play
ground-When, on the cold, sharp winter
night, mufIiod up, on skates you shot out
over the resOunding ice OF the pondi Have
you forgotten all those good days that the
Lord gave you! Were you never a boys
Were You never Il girl! Between those
times and this, how many mercics, how
many kindnesses the Lord has bestowed
upon you. How many joys have brcathed
up to you from the flowers, and shone down
TO you from the stars, and chanted 10
you with the voice of soaring birds, and
tumbhng cascade. and booming sea, and
thuuders that with bayonets of fire charged
down the mountain side! JOY joy! JOY
If there is any one who has right to the
enioyments of the world it is the Christian,
FOR God has given him lease to every
thing in the promise: An are yours"
But have To tell you that man who est-
mates his life on earth by mere worldly
qualification is a most unwise man. Our
life is not to be game of chess; it is not
dance in lighted hall to quick music; it is
not the froth of an ale pitcher; it is not the
settings of "a wine cup; it is not banquet
with intoxication and registering. 1t Is the
first step on ladder that mounts into the
skies, or the first step on road that
plunges into a horrible abyss So that in
this world we are only keying up the harp
of a rapture, or forging the chain OF bond
age And standing before you to-day
with life on the one side and death on the
other-song on the one side and groaning
on the other-mansions Oh the one SIDE ana
dungeons on the othar-Heaven on the one
side and hell ON the other-I put to you the
question of the text: How old art thou"
Towards what destiny are you tending, AMI
how fas. arc you getting on toward itf
Again, remark that there are many
who estimate their life on earth by their